Building and evolving brands

Hi, I'm John, Chief Creative Officer at Herman-Scheer, a strategic and creative brand consultancy. We believe the businesses that prioritize connection over transaction are the ones that succeed. 

Since 2010, Herman-Scheer has helped change the way businesses make people feel. We have big heart and daring instincts. A sunny disposition and assertive gait. 

I consider myself a people-people kind of person, enamored by how brands connect to people and how people connect to brands. I love working with businesses that—put simply—keep people healthy and happy.

My career journey has been about embracing the idea that friction makes fire. 

I believe in mixing the intuitive and familiar with the audacious and novel, creating a healthy tension to captivate and engage. This friction, this interplay of ideas, is where I believe brands find their true voice and distinctive edge.

Alongside Chapin, (The Herman to my Scheer), we’ve built an agency with a strong POV: great health and self-care brands create narratives and identities aimed at changing behaviors—experiences so compelling that customers stick with a product or service even before they see the tangible benefits.

If you're in the wellness industry looking to evolve your brand toward lasting impact, let’s talk shop.

Feel free to reach out here or email me at john@herman-scheer.com.

John Scheer

GTM-Savvy Business Builder | Founded Ness & Greatist

I’ve spent my career building brands that make health more accessible. 

That started with Greatist—a health media company we grew to 20M+ monthly readers by writing the best health content on the Internet: Science-backed, accessible, and actually worth reading.

Since then, I’ve launched a second venture-backed company (Ness), consulted for and advised dozens of health companies, including GoodRx, Parsley, Midi, Ro, NOCD, and Peloton. Now, I run Healthyish Content, a premium content agency creating the best answers on the Internet for modern health companies.

I also write 5HT—a weekly newsletter of five things that spark my curiosity on topics like microdosing GLP-1s, the real impacts of micro-plastics, and the hype around protein. I cover the real research behind the fads and share what I find. 

Check it out and subscribe to join 100K+ others getting healthyish at https://www.5ht.com/

Derek Flanzraich

Last week I partnered with Fitt Insider to break down the marketing strategies behind 14 health and wellness brands that are absolutely killing it right now.

These brands are taking very different approaches to how they’re reaching their audience and building their customer base.

Buttttttt they have one big thing in common: They’re picking one lane and going all in.

Shoutout to the brands we featured who are doing some seriously impressive work:

BetterHelp |  Podcast marketing
Everlywell |  Caregiver referrals 
Momentous |  Influencer marketing
Maven Clinic |  B2B2C messaging
Seed Health |  Affiliate marketing
Midi Health |  SEO-driven content
Athletic Brewing Co. |  Events + activations
Allara |  TikTok
ŌURA |  PR + media
Magic Spoon |  Retail marketing
OLIPOP PBC |  Newsletter sponsorships
HigherDOSE |  Instagram
Peloton Interactive | Community engagement
Liquid Death |  Brand marketing

If you’re building in health/wellness, this is basically a cheat sheet for what’s working right now.

Read the full thing here: https://lnkd.in/gMPXnQ3A

And big thanks to the Fitt Insider team Anthony Vennare and Joe Vennare for making it happen.

I make health accessible and fun | Built Greatist | Running Healthyish Content | Writing 5HT

I got a nose job.

Not a “new face” nose job (not that there's anything wrong with that).
A “why have I been breathing like this my entire life?” nose job.

My ENT did a LOT of work:

👃🏻 Rebuilt my twice deviated septum.
👃🏻 Straightened and splinted a crooked bone deep in the nose (vomer).
👃🏻 Widened my collapsing internal valves with spinder grafts.
👃🏻 Reduced my enlarged turbinates.
👃🏻 Filed down and aligned my uneven nasal bone.
👃🏻 And then reinforced the entire framework so it doesn’t cave in.

Plus, because there wasn't enough cartilage, so he used some from a dead person's rib. 💀

Recovery for a week was BRUTAL. 
I couldn’t breathe through my nose for a week. 
Oozing blood. Swollen eyes. Tearing from light sensitivity. Zero taste.
Plus, I looked like a raccoon who lost a bar fight.

But now? I can breathe better than I ever have.
Like… air actually goes all the way up. I didn't know it could do that!

But what surprised me most?
How common this is!
When I told friends, the number of “Oh yeah, I did that” responses was staggering. Most just never talk about it.
We openly discuss LASIK, braces, knee surgery.
Why not nose jobs?

If you’ve had one—functional and/or cosmetic—was it worth it?

I'm 12 days in. Swollen. I look like a cartoon version of myself. But the breathing sure feels incredible.

Three years ago, I shut down a venture-backed company after we raised ~$50M, built a team, launched with Sweetgreen, and people loved the product.

I learned a lot of lessons. (And I’ve written/shared many of them before.)

But these days, a big part of my focus is on building Healthyish Content. It’s a fast-growing, profitable, $2M+ business—and here’s everything I’m prioritizing as we grow:

-Scaling without losing my (or our) soul. 
With Healthyish Content, I care more about staying boutique and premium than growth for growth’s sake. 

-Building around conviction.
I knew we could write the best answers on the internet… which is why I hired the best writers and built around that standard. I’m super proud of the quality and the efficacy of our work.

-Betting on content-driven growth.
I believe high-quality content is still one of the most underrated growth channels. It compounds over time, builds trust, and delivers lasting ROI in a way few paid channels can.

-Being a contrarian. 
I value zagging when other people are zigging. Always have. And I knew, even as AI popped up as a scary, disruptive force in the content space, that I wanted to double down on quality, human-made content. 

So far, so great.

A little over a year ago, Healthyish had 4 clients. Today it has 12 clients.

I’m sure there will be many more professional adventures in my future, but I’m grateful and glad to be here right now. 

And a huge thanks to this community, which has followed and supported me on this journey.

Modern medicine is wild. Back in January, I had a heart procedure to treat PVCs (They’re basically early, extra heartbeats that felt to me like flutters.)

I was wheeled into the OR, given anesthesia while 90s tunes played in the background, and then I was out. The procedure took about 3 hours total and I was home the next day.

The coolest part of the experience was that I could watch my body respond after the intervention—thanks to the miracle of wearables.

The doctor had warned my heart beat could be a little topsy-turvy for a couple of weeks, and he was right. My HRV, for example, dropped from an average of ~80 pre-surgery to 25 one night (pretty fascinating). Sent me down a big rabbit hole on HRV. It’s improved since, but is still nearly half of what it was before…

Thankfully, I haven’t felt PVCs since the procedure. I’m really glad I did this—and I’m hopeful it solved the problem for good. 🤞 

Thank you to everyone who reached out with well wishes over the past few weeks. It meant a lot and I appreciate it so much. 

Very grateful to be feeling healthyish. 💛

If you work in health content, you should probably assume your reader is scared, confused, or totally convinced they’re dying.

But now, instead of just Googling their symptoms at 2 a.m., they’re probably asking AI.. 

From an SEO perspective, this is obviously a massive shift. (New platforms, new rules… kinda.)

Buuuut health isn’t like other categories!

Because people aren’t casually browsing. They’re looking for answers (and reassurance) when they’re feeling super vulnerable or freaked out.

And the numbers around health-related search are pretty staggering:

-Pew Research Center found that 77% of U.S. adults regularly search online for health information, mostly through traditional search engines.
-Another study found that 1 in 6 U.S. adults report using AI chatbots at least once a month to find health advice or information. 
-A JAMA Internal Medicine study found that nearly 1 in 3 patients uses the internet to self-diagnose before seeing a doctor.

Now, if you’re like, “they should just ask a doctor!” well, the data makes it pretty clear why they might be compelled to search for answers about their health issues on their own:

-Research suggests it would take more than 26 hours a day for physicians to deliver all recommended care. (TL;DR: They’re incredibly under-resourced and patients feel that pinch.)
-Appointments average just 15–18 minutes.
-And in clinical studies, physicians interrupt patients after about 11 seconds. (Read: So these patients are likely not feeling heard or understood in the brief appointments they do have.) 

So people do what they have to do. They search Google. Or now, maybe, they ask AI.

Which means there’s a biiiig responsibility when it comes to health content. Because in health, “good enough content” isn’t actually good enough. Not when the person reading it might be trying to decide whether something is normal or life-threatening.

So, sure, AI changes how people search. But the standard shouldn’t. If anything, expectations have never been higher—and delivering on those expectations has never been more important.

If you’re writing health content, it has to be accurate, clear, and genuinely helpful. It has to be the best answer on the internet.

Last month I had a heart procedure and I had Big Feelings around it. 

At first I wasn’t sure if I’d write about it on LinkedIn or in 5HT. I was feeling anxious and thought sharing about it—and getting feedback from folks—might actually make it feel like an even bigger deal.

But in hindsight I’m really glad I did. Because:

- It kinda forced me to confront what was happening and process my feelings.
- I got a lot of reassuring support from my community, which actually helped a lot. 
- And it made me think about how easy it is to slip from an intentionally positive mindset into (raises hand) emotional suppression.

That last point really stayed with me. 

So, of course, if you know me, you know that I got VERY curious about the data on this.

Here’s what I found:

- People who regularly suppress emotions have about a 35% higher risk of dying from any cause, compared to people who don’t suppress emotions as much.
- They also showed about a 70% higher risk of dying from cancer. (!)
- Over time, emotional suppression is tied to less social support, lower closeness with others, and lower overall satisfaction with life.
- When people suppress emotions, their bodies show stronger stress responses. You can’t fool your body into calming down. 

When things are hard, avoiding difficult feelings can feel like a form of relief. But that relief comes at a cost to our brains and nervous systems.

Now, I know that “feel your feelings” isn’t exactly groundbreaking stuff. But, like nearly all things health-related: It’s the fundamentals that count. 

And right now I’m feeling grateful that I’m doing well. And thankful for all the incredible support this community offers me.

Close to 100,000 people get my health newsletter, 5HT, every week.

Here’s what made it into our top 5 sends last quarter:

1. My 2026 resolutions and GLP-3 entering the chat: 
I unpacked why GLP-3/retatrutide could be a true gamechanger (but not something to buy off WhatsApp) and also revisited food tracking.

2. New dietary guidelines and Huberman’s favorite breath exercise: 
I shared my thoughts on the new dietary guidelines, debunked EMF blocker hype, and doubled down on mitochondrial health.

3. Reactions to the new food pyramid and phone hacks: 
I gave honest takes on 75 Hard and then dug into the pushback re: the new food pyramid. (My take: identity politics and our assessment of official health guidelines should stay in their own corners.)

4. Hot water and understanding my HRV level: 
I definitely didn’t actually understand HRV as well as I thought… and yes, I’m into drinking hot water now.

5. Morning Water and house burping: I shared my thoughts on Reiki, why “house burping” is actually smart, and whether Morning Water deserves a spot in your routine.

Each week, I share five ✋healthyish things to help readers think clearer, live healthier, and age better.

If that’s your thing, 5HT goes out every Thursday. I’d love to have you on the list.

Subscribe here:

Open article: Subscribe | 5HT | 5 Healthyish Things by Derek Flanzraich by 5ht.com

Subscribe | 5HT | 5 Healthyish Things by Derek Flanzraich

Okay, I've decided last minute to join Expo West in Anaheim 🐭 this week.

It's my fave conference! I'll be there to:

🍫 Discover interesting products to write about for 5HT
🍫 Validate my 2026 predictions (or ignore anything that doesn't line up with them)
🍫 Catch up with some of my fave people running CPG brands
🍫 Try more protein bars because, er, I'm broken that way
🍫 Meet new folks as I continue to get my own CPG side hobby, Fixie Dust, off the ground.

Will you be there? Let me know in the comments! 💪

One of the fastest ways to ruin good health advice is to turn it into a political identity.

I was thinking about the pushback I got on my initial “this is awesome” reaction to the new food pyramid, from both 5HT readers and LinkedIn followers.

The thing is—I don’t think most of them disagree around the basic fundamentals of healthy eating:

-Eat more minimally processed food
-Cut back on added sugar
-Get more fiber
-Cook at home when you can

My take is we’re all actually pretty aligned and we know this guidance is solid, regardless of who’s in office.

So—as someone deeply embedded in the health space, my plea to you all is this: Look at the data. Follow the data. And then make good food choices for yourself and your family. 

Despite the messiness of the discourse, if this moment leads to even a small shift toward less ultra-processed food and less added sugar—especially for kids—that feels like real progress to me.

(Okay, I swear I’m done talking about the food pyramid now 😂)

A human clinical trial will be testing something HUGE that could totally reframe how we think about aging. Buckle your seatbelts.

Leading the trial is David Sinclair, a well-known researcher who’s a pioneer in the longevity space. 

Sinclair found activating a subset of the Yamanaka Factors (more on those in a minute) can reverse biological age markers, restore tissue function, and reverse vision loss… in mice. This was back in 2020. 

This new trial will be testing partial cellular reprogramming in REAL HUMAN patients with glaucoma. If it shows even modest results, it would be the first real sign that this approach could work in people, not just in mice.

And the hope is that cellular reprogramming could one day be explored in other parts of the human body, too—not just the eyes. So this is exciting stuff. 

Now, here’s what you need to know about the Yamanaka factors:

-About two decades ago, Japanese scientist Shinya Yamanaka discovered that by turning on just four genes (Oct3/4, Sox2, Klf4, and c-Myc—or collectively OSKM), you could rewind an adult cell back into a stem-cell-like state.  

-The Yamanaka factors are the proteins made when these four genes are activated. Activating these genes has been described as a cellular “factory reset,” a discovery that ultimately earned Yamanaka a Nobel Prize. Nbd.

-Fully activating the genes resets a cell completely, but partially activating them could essentially restore cells to a healthier state. Think of it as cells remembering how to be young again. 

Crazy, right?

Soooo… these are my thoughts:

I don’t think any of this means we’re all headed for immortality. But, these findings could suggest biological age is more flexible than we once thought. 

Yes, it’s still early and there are a lot of unknowns. No, I can’t stop (won’t stop) being extremely intrigued by the possibilities in longevity science.

I was just featured in a “2 Minutes With” interview by The Clios—which means I had 120 seconds to explain my life choices. 

In that short time, we covered some big stuff:

-My origin story—a lot of health content used to be garbage. Some folks and I at Greatist wanted to change that. 
-How I built a whole career on having the best answer on the internet. 
-Changing attitudes toward mental health (stigma is down, but we still need to upgrade the solution set).
-Landing Jonathan Van Ness as chief self-care officer.
-How Ray Bradbury makes me cry and that I love watching KPop Demon Hunters with my girls. 
-And, yes… the fact that I once performed in drag on Broadway.

If you’ve got 2 minutes, read the whole interview here: https://lnkd.in/gFsbkJcW

Big thanks to The Clios + Shahnaz Mahmud for the interview.

Some practices once dismissed as “woo” by Western medicine are now backed by data and widely accepted. And acupuncture is one of the clearest examples.

Let’s look at the numbers:

-Among adults who use acupuncture, those using it for pain management increased from about 56% in 2002 to nearly 73% in 2022.
-A recent randomized clinical trial found acupuncture to be an effective treatment in older adults with chronic lower back pain.
-A major Cochrane review found acupuncture can reduce headache frequency.

And here’s what’s changed more recently:

-The American College of Physicians now recommends it as an option for low back pain
-In 2020, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services began covering it for chronic back pain
-Major insurers like Aetna and Cigna now cover it for pain management

That said, acupuncture’s not for everyone. 

I’ve tried everything to help my bad back, acupuncture included! I usually feel better afterward, but the relief is pretty temporary. I haven’t, however, truly committed to doing multiple sessions over a long period of time. Also the needles freak me out.

So… that’s just me. But evidence supports it’s worth a real shot–and I recommend it (along with most Eastern medicine interventions practiced for centuries, lol).

If you’ve had good (or bad) experiences with acupuncture, I’d love to hear about it.

And if you’re devoted to something else that’s currently considered a “woo” practice but giving you great results—tell me that, too. (Maybe I’ll try it!)

Most CPG brands massively underestimate content's role in conversion.

They treat it like this:
Blog = top-of-funnel traffic
Paid ads = what actually drives sales

Buuut if your product is...
Science-heavy?
Expensive?
Unfamiliar?
... content often plays a CRITICAL part in the funnel.

A great example of this is my agency Healthyish Content's work with Pendulum, a microbiome company selling targeted probiotics.

🦠 Okay, so they compete in one of the hardest SEO categories imaginable—gut microbiome, metabolic health, specific bacterial strains, emerging science—you name it. So customers don't only need awareness, they also need education.

Instead of pumping out generic SEO posts, the agency built content designed to:

1️⃣ Capture curiosity early
(“What is Akkermansia?” / “How does the microbiome affect metabolism?”)

2️⃣ Establish scientific credibility
Think deep research, citations, expert review.

3️⃣ Bridge education → product
Helping readers connect the dots between the science and the solution.

4️⃣ Win the hard keywords competitors avoid
The ones that require real expertise to explain well.

The result: Content that ranks AND converts. 

We were able to build an SEO & GEO engine for Pendulum that beat their conversion goals by 36% and got them to rank #1 for killer keywords like "Akkermansia supplements" and "GLP-1 probiotic." Pendulum is now the only product brand ranking in the top 10 for "Akkermansia" by itself!

Point is—the goal in CPG usually isn't (just) traffic. It's awareness, then education, then trust, THEN purchase. (This matters especially for CPG brands in health. I'm talking about supps, functional foods, longevity, microbiome, metabolic health, beauty, you name it.)

If customers have to learn before they buy, content isn’t optional—it’s core infrastructure that continues to be underrated and underinvested in by most brands. Reach out if you're ready to take content seriously and work with the best in the business! (See more from our agency's case study below. ⬇️)

Also, curious: For other CPG founders/operators here—where is content actually driving real revenue in your funnel right now? 👀

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